Fabrication of substantially flat, compliant diaphragms is essential to the success of sensitive microphones. A significant obstacle to achieving this goal is the inevitable residual stresses induced during the process of manufacturing miniature microphone diaphragms. The thickness of miniature microphone diaphragms is typically on the order of microns. Stresses in such thin films can result in warpage or buckling, or can lead to breakage. Much effort has been put into controlling the flatness and dynamic performance of thin film diaphragms.
One common method to prevent the aforementioned warpage is to clamp all four edges or all four corners of a thin diaphragm and utilize tensile stress to control the flatness. The tension, however, increases the stiffness of the diaphragm and consequently decreases the sensitivity of the microphone. The inability to accurately control the tensile stress during fabrication also leads to unpredictable dynamic characteristics for the microphone.
To achieve an acceptable sensitivity, a microphone diaphragm needs to be very compliant. The cantilever structure described in this invention is an alternative to conventional four-edge (or four-corner) clamped devices. The new cantilever design seeks to achieve a sensitive microphone, since cantilever diaphragms are much more compliant than tensioned diaphragms.
One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a robust microphone diaphragm design that maintains good dimensional control under the influences of residual stresses, either compressive or tensile, while having its dynamic response dominated only by a single mode of vibration. The response of the diaphragm is predicted to be extremely close to that of an ideal rigid plate over a frequency range extending well beyond the audible range.
The internal supporting structure of this diaphragm provides a combination of torsional and translational stiffeners that resemble a number of crossbars. These stiffeners brace and support the diaphragm motion, thus causing it to be very similar in dynamic response to an ideal flat plate operating in a frequency range extending well beyond the audible. The diaphragm is essentially constrained to pivot about an edge upon which it is supported. The supported end has an overlapping T-section whose length and cross-sectional dimensions can be adjusted to tune the resonant frequency.